He pointed out that with a fully fit attack, Green’s workload would have been more than manageable after an encouraging Shield outing, where he blazed a brilliant 94 for Western Australia, in addition to picking up a wicket in his fiery spell with the ball in the first innings.
“If they had their full strength bowling group, Cameron Green, having got through the Shield game last week, I think they would have been more than comfortable going into a Perth Test with him as the all-rounder that could bowl eight, 10, 12 overs in an innings,” Ponting noted.
But the absence of Hazlewood has ensured Beau Webster is in the conversation, particularly after a standout bowling display in his most recent outing for Tasmania, picking up eight wickets, including 5/50 in the first innings.
“Beau Webster in this last Shield game as well, missed out with the bat in both innings but picked up eight wickets with the ball. So he’s also thrown a bit of a spanner into the works there as far as selection is concerned,” Ponting added.
Australia take on England in the first of five Ashes Tests as part of the ICC World Test Championship at Perth Stadium in Western Australia, beginning Friday, 21 November.
Australia’s squad (first Test only): Steve Smith (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Brendan Doggett, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, Mitchell Starc, Jake Weatherald, Beau Webster
Series schedule:
First Test: Perth Stadium, November 21-25
Second Test: Gabba, December 4-8
Third Test: Adelaide Oval, December 17-21
Fourth Test: MCG, December 26-30
Fifth Test: SCG, January 4-8